AntiRose
by LittleMewLugia
Summary: A Ninth Doctor and Rose story.After using an untried manoeuver to escape the pull of a black hole, the TARDIS lands back on the Powell Estate in London. However,not everything is as it seems.
1. Chapter 1

Anti-Rose.

Prologue

Set between "Father's Day" and 'The Empty Child."

"Rose, grab that lever there and push it up." the Doctor said. His usually cheerful face was grim, the worry he felt showing in his eyes as Rose glanced up at him. He nodded as she carried out his instructions.

"Hold it there, and be ready to press the button on it's immediate right on my mark." he told her. Feeling as if she was playing a high-stakes game of _'Twister'_, Rose turned, reaching her left hand over the one holding up the lever, stretching till her hand hovered over the button he'd mentioned. "Now!" he told her. Rose brought her hand down on the button, which clicked and sank flush with the console surface. Her head snapped back as the TARDIS jolted, and then the second, bigger, jolt shook loose her hold on the console. She hit the grillework around the console face down with a thud, which winded her. She rolled onto her back as the Doctor looked down at her with a mixture of irritation and surprise. As usual, he had not only stayed upright, but also appeared completely unfazed by the tooth-rattling jolts.

"What are you doing down there?" he asked. "We still have work to do, we're not clear yet. Now get up and help me."

Muttering under her breath Rose got up, ignoring the smarting of her left cheek, which had hit the TARDIS floor first and very hard. The Doctor waved her back to 'her' side of the console, and she moved there without further comment. Time was too precious to waste on bickering. She could complain about his attitude later-if there was a later, that was.

switch up, turn the yellow knob three-quarters around to the right, hold the green and red buttons down together."-as they fought to pull the TARDIS from the deadly pull of a nearby black hole the Doctor had thought to study. He had set the TARDIS co-ordinates to a time when another factor had weakened the black hole's pull, but something had gone wrong, and they had arrived 2000 years later, when it was back to full strength. The black hole was pulling them slowly closer, despite the TARDIS's engines being at full output. The Doctor had tried a variety of solutions, all of which had achieved precisely bugger all.

The Doctor checked a screen. His face was grim.

"That's it, Rose, I've tried everything I can think of and I've run out of ideas."

"You mean you're just going to give up?" Rose asked, aghast. The Doctor had never struck her as a quitter. He kept on fighting, even in the seemingly most hopeless situations, and he had always managed to turn things around.

"Me, give up?" he asked. "No, there is one other option open to us, but it's very dangerous. It could kill us as surely as the black hole would."

"Yeah, but if there's a chance shouldn't we take it? I'd prefer possible death to certain death given the choice." Rose replied.

"You're absolutely right." said the Doctor, not in the voice of someone who had been persuaded, but more like the voice of the person doing the persuading. One day, Rose decided, she would ask the Doctor where he had learned his particularly effective brand of psychology.

"The energy to run the TARDIS comes from something called the Eye of Harmony." the Doctor explained. "At full power, the TARDIS still only runs on about fifty per cent of that power. If I make some changes that will enable me to use all of that energy in one great dematerialization, it might be enough to wrench us free. However, it could shake the TARDIS to pieces so we die in the vacuum of space, or it may just not work and leave us in the same place but with no power to slow the black hole's pull." He flashed her what she supposed was a reassuring grin, but she was far from reassured. However, she gave him a weak smile back and said, "Let's just try it, shall we? A chance is a chance."

He nodded. "Okay, Rose, I need you to do exactly what I tell you. Hold down that button there, pull that lever there down and keep it down, and flip and hold that switch."

"I only have two hands!" muttered Rose, but found that by using her foot to hold down the far end switch, she could reach the other two with her hands and do as the Doctor asked. It involved her being sprawled uncomfortably across the TARDIS console, but the important thing was that she could reach.

The Doctor turned two knobs, slid down 5 switches, and did his own contortionist act to grasp two handles.

"Hold on! Remember as well that we don't know where and when we'll turn up if this works. The TARDIS will need weeks of repair before she'll move again." He pulled down on the handles and used his chin to depress a button.

The lights brightened, then gave out completely. A terrible grating, grinding noise sounded, and then a high-pitched whine filled the air. The TARDIS made several stomach-twisting jerks and lurches. Rose lost her grip by the second, landing hard on the grillework around the console. Her fingers found purchase on the grille edge, and she hung on desperately. More bumps, groans and grinding sounds echoed as the TARDIS bucked like a recalcitrant horse, all overlaid by that mechanical whine, which Rose thought of as the TARDIS screaming. Rose squeezed her eyes shut and focused her entire being on holding on.

Some time later, the racket stopped, to be replaced by a silence Rose had never heard in the TARDIS before. There had always been the quiet hum of machinery even at rest, now conspicuous by it's absence. Waiting to be sure it was really over, Rose then gingerly got up. She blundered around in the dark, trying to get her bearings, and tripped over something on the floor.

It was the Doctor.

"Doctor!" she cried. There was no response. She grabbed his arm, felt his chest, and was relieved to find both his hearts still beating. She scrambled over to the TARDIS scanner, hoping to find out where they were, hoping not all the power was down.

As if in answer to her prayers, a slow but steady hum started up again, and some lights came up. Whether they were emergency lights, or whether they had been fixed by some sort of auto repair system, Rose didn't know and frankly didn't care. More importantly still, the scanner glowed with power, and in answer to Rose's touch on the buttons, an image resolved on screen.

They were not still trapped by the black hole, neither had they ended up in an alien place. Even the time seemed familiar, and Rose could only think that the TARDIS had returned to a time and place it was familiar with. For the image that Rose saw was very familiar to her.

They were back in the Powell Estate.

The TARDIS had brought Rose home.


	2. Chapter 2

Anti-Rose.

Chapter One.

Rose went back over to the Doctor. A large purpling lump on the side of his head bore mute testimony that this was one time that the Doctor's phenomenal balance had not saved him. She shook his shoulder, and called his name, but all to no avail. He was not going to wake, and the size of the lump on his head worried Rose. She didn't know anything about Gallifreyan physiology beyond the fact that he had two hearts, but if it was anything like humans, a head injury like that could prove fatal.

Then Rose felt as if a weight had been lifted from her shoulders. She was home. She could get Mickey to help get the Doctor up to her Mum's and her Mum would probably be able to help look after him. If need be, she could get Mickey to enter that UNIT website again, and maybe let the Doctor's UNIT friends know he needed help. They seemed to know he wasn't human. At the very least, he could rest in her Mum's flat while Rose raided the TARDIS library for information on Gallifreyan physiology.

Rose has found the library a few weeks back, and the TARDIS telepathic translation field seemed to work for the written as well as the spoken word. She was able to read and understand any of the books in the library. Well, almost any: there were a few dusty and old looking books that she could make little out of beside the illustrations, most of which were so nasty that Rose shut the book after seeing just one or two of them. She suspected that it was no fault or mistake that they weren't translated. The TARDIS just didn't want her to read them, which suggested they were evil, dangerous or both.

She first went to see if the Doctor's condition was any different, but it was not. She checked that the key the Doctor had given her was in her pocket, and went out of the TARDIS, carefully locking the doors behind her; she didn't want just anybody walking in. The estate seemed deserted. Rose set off across the tarmac towards the flat she shared with her mother.

It was when she was halfway there that she noticed a figure duck into a narrow side street. Frowning, she changed course, trying to find out who it was. Maybe it was Mickey, mucking about as usual, planning to jump out and scare her. She was also aware it could be someone more dangerous. She cautiously approached, ready to flee back to the safety of the TARDIS if the person was big, mean or there was more than one person in the above categories. Ducking around the corner, she found the person. She came face-to-face with a girl who could have been her sister.

Her hair was jaw-length and black, and she wore a jacket that had similar colours and was identical in design to the one Rose was herself wearing, but with the colours reversed. The face gave Rose the disconcerting sense of looking in a mirror. The face shape and the features were uncannily similar to Rose's. Rose blinked. She would have remembered seeing someone like this before. Maybe she'd recently moved on.

"Why are you hiding?" she asked. "I'm not dangerous."

'I was wondering just who you are and what you're doing here." the girl replied. Her face was hostile. 'I've not seen you around before."

"Actually, I was wondering the same thing about you." Rose responded. The girl's manner, distinctly unfriendly, was getting on Rose's nerves. "I live here." Look, I've got to go, we can sort this out later, the Doctor's hurt and I need to get him as much help as I can give."

'So, you're travelling with him willingly? And he's hurt." the girl said, almost to herself. She turned, as if to go, then swung back, dealing Rose a vicious blow to the head with the clenched fist Rose hadn't noticed. The blow achieved it's objective: Rose dropped to the floor, unconscious.

The girl moved Rose to one side, where she would not been seen unless someone was searching for her, or had watched the incident occur. Then she moved back down the alley, looking thoughtful. She was unaware that somebody had been watching, and had witnessed the whole thing.

Once the girl had moved away, the watching figure moved over to where Rose lay. He looked at her with interest for a few seconds, then crouched to check her. Rose moaned and shifted, in the first stages of coming around from the blow. The figure frowned, took out a blue and silver tube, and adjusted it. A three-second blast from the sonic screwdriver aborted Rose's revival, and she stilled again. He put it back, then reached out leather-clad arms to lift her. He picked her up with little effort, checked to see there was nobody to observe his actions, and turned to leave. He stopped, noticing a CCTV camera on a shop front pointing towards him. Letting Rose's legs go, he took out the sonic screwdriver, and made an adjustment, then zapped the camera with it. It whined and died.

Scooping Rose's legs back up, he walked away without a backward glance.


	3. Chapter 3

Anti-Rose.

Chapter Two.

The Doctor came to, unbeknownst to Rose, a minute or two after she had exited the TARDIS. Wincing, he cautiously sat up. He was overcome by a wave of dizziness, and put his head between his knees until it passed. He gingerly stood, and looked sadly at the stationary Time Rotor. He patted the TARDIS console affectionately.

"You'll need a few repairs done, old girl." He looked about and it was then he seemed to notice that Rose wasn't there. He didn't worry at first, assuming she'd gone to the loo or had gone searching for the first aid cupboard, but after a few minutes he went looking for her. He checked the bedroom she had claimed in the TARDIS, and then searched the library and the wardrobe for her, as well as one or two other rooms he knew she had found. He found no sign of her.

Returning to the console room, he opened a cupboard in the wall of the console room-a first-aid cupboard-and took out a small green tablet, which he swallowed dry. He felt light-headed for a moment, and then his headache seemed to evaporate. He moved back to the console, calling up a list of the last ten functions used in the TARDIS. It seemed Rose had checked the scanner and then opened the doors. They weren't still in the grip of the black hole then. He patted the console again.

"Well done old girl. You saved us again." Then he moved over to the scanner and had a look himself.

"Hmm, the housing estate. She'll have popped out to visit her mother." he said. "I'll pop in for a cup of tea and a couple of chocolate Hob Nobs myself, I think. I wonder if Jackie has made any more of that cake?" he murmured to himself as he checked his pockets to make sure nothing essential had rolled out when he had fallen.

He set the TARDIS to auto-repair what it could, and stepped out onto the estate. He crossed the square towards the flat Mrs Tyler lived in. He stopped as a vague sense of unease nagging at him. Something seemed not quite right. Looking around, the only thing he could see wrong was that the CCTV camera on the newsagents seemed to have stopped working. Shrugging and ignoring the feeling, he continued on to Jackie's. He did his usual trick of taking the stairs two at a time, and was soon in front of Jackie Tyler's flat. He rang the bell, rattled the cat-flap, and waited.

Jackie answered the door. She seemed to have dyed her hair brown, he noticed. She looked up in confusion, and then she backed off. He came in after her, not noticing the expression of fear on her face.

"Hi, I thought I'd pop in for a cuppa. Where's Rose?" He only realised something was wrong when Jackie, still backing up, tripped over a pair of shoes in the hallway. He looked down at her, and bent to help her up.

She tried to scrabble backwards. "Keep away from me, you!" she cried. "Leave me alone!" She kicked out and it was only his leap backwards that stopped her flailing foot connecting with his groin. She used his leap back and momentary confusion to scramble to her feet, and made a dash for the kitchen.

"Mrs Tyler? Jackie? Are you okay?" he asked, and went after her. Jackie was acting most unusually.

Jackie had picked up a rolling pin and was circling towards the door as he came in. She swung at him and he managed to dodge the heavy wooden instrument. He turned and was in time to grab her wrist as she swung again, twisting and squeezing to disarm her. It worked, but then Jackie screamed, trying to pull away. He held on, worried that Jackie might hurt herself in this state. He was unprepared when she darted towards him, and even more unprepared for her to sink her teeth in the hand he was using to hold her wrist.

More shocked than hurt, he released her. She screamed, and darted to the other end of the kitchen, by the drawers, and yanked them open. Her hands darted in and came out holding two large knives, one a carving knife and one a chopping knife. Both looked large and sharp, and both were capable of seriously injuring or killing either her or him. The screaming had probably convinced the neighbours that murder was going on in the Tyler household, and judging by the look on Jackie's face, they would soon be right unless he did something. This had just gotten very dangerous, and the Doctor decided that enough was enough.

He locked eyes with Jackie and concentrated.

Jackie had let out another piercing scream and was about to follow it with another, but it never came, as the Doctor focused on Jackie, and brought her mind under his control. She swayed, and her grip on the knives loosened a little. Never breaking eye contact, the Doctor stepped towards Jackie. He lifted his hands slowly to hers, and gently but firmly took the knives from her, putting them back in their place in the drawer. Then he took Jackie's upper arm and guided her out of the kitchen. Her face was by now blank and expressionless.

"Come on Jackie, let's go into the front room and sit down. unseeingly, with the Doctor guiding her by one arm, she did so.

"Now Jackie, I don't know why you're so scared of me or why you turned hysterical and homicidal on me, but I'm not going to hurt you, I promise. If I'd wanted to hurt you I could have by now, but I just popped up for a social call, and to try and find Rose."

"You've found her." said a cold but familiar voice. "You leave my mother alone. If you've hurt her, I'm going to kill you."

The Doctor turned. Neither Jackie nor he had closed the front door. A girl, with jaw length black hair and Rose's face had come in and was stood in the doorway of the living room. Her left arm was raised and she was holding a small, lethal-looking device that could only be a weapon pointed directly at the Doctor's chest.


	4. Chapter 4

Anti-Rose

Chapter Three

"Mum, are you alright?" the girl asked, never taking her eyes from the Doctor. Jackie gave no response. "All right, what have you done to her?" she snarled at the Doctor. The Doctor raised his hands, palms forward, and gave a smile.

"She was hysterical and holding knives. I thought she was going to hurt herself or me. I didn't fancy either of us getting hurt so I put her in a trance. It's easily broken." Watching the girl carefully, he reached out his hand towards Jackie. "Jackie, listen to me. When I click my fingers, you will be in control of your own actions and thoughts again. You will remember everything that happened when you were in the trance. One, two, three." he said, and clicked his fingers.

Jackie blinked, looked confused for a moment, and then looked at the Doctor.

"Don't you ever do that to me again." she said. Then she blinked again. "'Ere, your eyes are different. They're blue! I suppose you've tried to disguise yourself with contact lenses, hair dye and a shorter coat. Well, I know you, Doctor, and you've got a cheek comin' up here and inviting yourself in."

"Can I ask who you are?" the Doctor said to the girl.

"You know damn well who I am. You were looking for me, remember? You told my mother you came 'looking for Rose.' Well, here I am, What do you want?"

"How can you be Rose? I saw her in my TARDIS less than an hour ago. Like you, but blonde, similar jacket, but different somehow. Yes, hers was red where yours is black, and vice versa."

"I saw a girl like that half an hour ago." said the other Rose or the 'anti-Rose' as the Doctor had mentally tagged her.

She moved over to the Doctor. "Look up but no sudden moves." she said. She checked the Doctor's eyes and his hair roots.

"Well, it's not contact lenses and it's not hair dye unless the lenses are invisible and the dye doesn't affect the skin." she said. "You don't have the same smarmy attitude either. I don't know who you are, but you seem very like someone that I know called the Doctor. I ran into him earlier this year and wish I hadn't." A remembered pain flickered over her face.

"Wait." said the Doctor. "You're Rose, but not as I remember, and you" he said pointing to Jackie "are Jackie, Rose's mother, but again, different to how I remember. You remember the Doctor as being like me, but different again. I wonder?" He thought for a moment, then straightened up.

"The untried full power dematerialization! I've never heard of it being tried before, but we did have all the energy of the Eye of Harmony behind it."

"Now you're sounding something like him." anti-Rose said. He was glad to see that she had lowered the weapon. "Are you a Time Lord as well?"

"Yes I am, and I think I know what's happened. My TARDIS got too close to a black hole, and I had to do an untried manoeuvre to pull free. I think the force of that manoeuvre may have ripped a hole between my universe and yours. We are from two different possibilities, two equally valid realities which are never meant to meet. You are Rose, but a different Rose to the one I know, and I am the Doctor-my ninth incarnation actually-but obviously a different Doctor to the one you know.

"Your Rose, when I met her, I thought she was in league with the Doctor from my reality." anti-Rose said. "I knocked her out."

"Where?" asked the Doctor. "I've got to find her."

"She was gone when I came back." said anti-Rose. "I assumed she had recovered."

"Then we should check my TARDIS." said the Doctor. 'She may have gone there." He got up and anti-Rose said, "Stop! How do I know you're telling the truth?" The Doctor thought, and then reached into one of his inside pockets. Anti-Rose stiffened and the Doctor stopped.

"I'm going to show you a photograph taken a few weeks ago." he said. Moving slowly and carefully, he took out the photo of them all that Jackie's friend had taken after the Slitheen incident. It showed the four of them-Rose, Jackie, Mickey and the Doctor-outside the flat, smiling and posing for the camera.

Anti-Rose took it and looked. Tears sprang to her eyes and she wordlessly passed it to her mother. Jackie looked at it and stared, then passed it back to the Doctor.

"Mickey's still alive in your reality?" she asked.

"He's not alive here?" asked the Doctor.

"No, he only saw the Doctor from a distance. The Doctor made a deal with something called the Nestene Consciousness. He then double crossed it and destroyed it, but the Consciousness had caught Mickey. Mickey was trapped when the Nestene lair blew up. He died there. I only just got away myself. He didn't care! He just left Mickey there to die."

"I may think he's an idiot, but in my reality, I got him into my TARDIS and got him-and you-away." the Doctor said.

"Come on.," said anti-Rose. 'Let's find my alternate self."

Anti-Rose took the Doctor down to where she had left Rose. As she had said, she was no longer there. The Doctor looked up at the CCTV camera and saw where it was pointing.

"How long has that been inactive?" he asked.

"It was working when I went down for my papers this morning." anti-Rose told him. "Why?"

"Because it may have recorded something." the Doctor said.

"Can your TARDIS view CCTV film?" asked anti-Rose.

"Easily." said the Doctor. "That TARDIS has shown more CCTV film then you've had hot dinners."

"I doubt that!" retorted anti-Rose. "Wait here a moment." She walked into the shop.

Ten minutes later, she came out with the tape. "That was easy." she said. "We're allowed it for half an hour. The shop owner knows and trusts me." They set off for the TARDIS.

The Doctor knew Rose hadn't been back the moment he stepped into the TARDIS. An alarm went off as soon as the door opened, which the Doctor stopped with a single word of Gallifreyan.

"I triggered that to go off just the once, the next moment someone entered the TARDIS once I'd gone." he said. "If she'd been back, that would have been tripped already. The fact that it hasn't mean Rose hasn't been back since I left. So, let's see if this tape gives us any clue." He put it in, and told the TARDIS to replay the last five minutes of data.

For a minute or two they saw nothing, and then they saw Rose cross over, and head towards the alley, which was off-screen. Then nothing for a while, and then they saw a pale-haired figure in a long black leather coat cross the screen, heading the same way Rose had gone. A few seconds later, he walked back into screen, carrying an unconscious Rose. They saw him drop her legs, point his sonic screwdriver at the camera, and then it went black.

" Has the Editor stolen the TARDIS and come here with it?" he asked anti-Rose."

"No." anti-Rose said. "That's you-him-you in my reality. That's the Doctor. He's got your friend, and that's very bad news indeed." She looked at the Doctor.

"I don't know what he wants with her, but I do know one thing. He'll kill her without a qualm if he wants to, or if she can't or won't give him what he wants".


	5. Chapter 5

Anti-Rose

Chapter Four.

Rose began to wake up. Her head was throbbing, she felt sick and her head seemed to be spinning. As she became more conscious, she became aware of the fact that she was in a seated position, and that her hands were tied behind her back, and her legs were tied to what seemed to be chair legs. Lifting her head, she opened her eyes, and stared.

She was in the TARDIS.

She shook her head. No, there were a few subtle differences. It looked slightly darker and slightly shabbier. Not _the_ TARDIS, but definitely a TARDIS. Then she saw a figure enter the room through a door in the console wall.

His hair was pale blonde, almost white, and he wore a calf-length black leather coat. As he turned towards her she could see that his eyes were dark-brown, maybe, or almost black. At first she thought that maybe the Editor from Station Five had obtained a TARDIS, but then she noticed that the shape of him, his body, his face, were that of her friend, the Doctor. She looked at his face again, and felt cold. There was something else in that familiar face that was totally alien to the Doctor she knew: a mocking cruelty in his eyes and his smile. He crossed over to stand before her.

"I'm glad to see you're awake. I scanned you while you slept. The scans indicate that you have travelled through time-something humans of your time are unable to do without assistance from some other, superior race. It's unlikely to be the Daleks; they kill everything non-Dalek they encounter, so that only leaves my race, the Time Lords. Who is your travelling companion? The Master? The Rani? Someone else?" he asked her.

Rose, in her reading in the TARDIS library had found references to the Rani and the Master, two evil renegade Time Lords the Doctor had crossed swords with before.

"No, neither, but who are you, and why have you tied me up?" she said, not willing to volunteer information about the Doctor without him here. His reaction was to grab her hair painfully and pull, so she was looking up at him.

"I will ask the questions here, not you. Understand?" He released her hair and stood back.

"What I want to know from you is who you are and what you are doing here, and who your travelling companion is."

"My name is Rose Tyler." she told him.

"Interesting. I know a Rose Tyler, and it's not you." He pulled on her hair again, and scrutinised her face. She cried out at the pain of it, but he didn't appear to notice. "As far as I know, she was an only child, but you have her look about you. Perhaps she has a twin she was unaware of, that her mother had adopted at birth, but no, you both have the exact same name, so unless there's been a galactic-sized coincidence that's not the answer."

"Another Rose Tyler?" Rose asked.

"Yes, she looks a lot like you but her hair is black, and shorter." he said. "I believe you met briefly some minutes ago.

"She attacked me!" Rose recalled. "For no reason at all!"

"I happened to overhear your conversation. You mentioned 'the Doctor', which happens to be the name I travel under. She obviously thought you were in league with me. Do you also travel with someone who calls himself the Doctor?"

"Yes." said Rose. "A different Doctor. Not you, the imposter Doctor."

Rose had braced herself for the blow she somehow knew that comment would elicit, but it still nearly took her head off her shoulders. It also knocked the chair she was tied to flying, and she cried out as she landed awkwardly, unable to save herself with her hands and ankles tied. He roughly pulled the chair back upright.

"I am no imposter. If anything, he is copying me. I am sure we will at sometime meet. Tell me, Rose Tyler, is he anything like me?"

"Physically, yes, except for your eyes and hair, but otherwise you couldn't be more different. I think I prefer mine."

"Where is yours now?" he asked. "Hurt, I think you said. He'll probably recover soon enough, Time Lords are a tough bunch with a few tricks up their sleeves where injury and death are concerned."

"Like two hearts?" Rose asked.

"That's just a fact, not a trick. I know van Statten wanted to patent the binary vascular idea, it may be more efficient but we have more tricks than that."

"You met van Statten too?" Rose asked.

"Yes." the Doctor said. "I made him pay for what he put me through-after I destroyed his pet Dalek."

"Okay." muttered Rose. "My Doctor may have left van Statten to his own people, but I'm sure that they gave him his come-uppance."

The other Doctor had been thinking. Then he stood up straighter.

"A parallel universe, or alternate reality, that would mean it all made sense! Your name, your knowledge, your looks, everything. Let me guess, you had some catastrophic failure or incident aboard the TARDIS that ripped a hole in both realities, allowing you to pass from yours to mine."

"I-I don't know!" Rose stammered truthfully.

"It must be. All the facts fit. So there's another Rose here, another Doctor, and another TARDIS."

He had his back to his TARDIS doors while speaking to Rose, so it was only Rose who saw them creak slightly open, and she had to school her face when she saw the Doctor-her Doctor-peering through, with his finger to his lips. She quickly transferred her attention back to the Doctor immediately in front of her.

"Another Type Forty. What could I do with two TARDISes and a rip creating a path to another reality? With you in my hands I have the key to that other TARDIS."

"Wrong. Two type Fortys mean that I have the key to your TARDIS, which is how I got in." another similar voice said. The Doctor in front of Rose turned, to find Rose's Doctor standing by his console. Anti-Rose was by his side, her weapon raised and pointing at the blonde Doctor.

The other Doctor moved quickly behind Rose and her chair, and Rose saw anti-Rose hesitate.

"Second thoughts, dear?" the other Doctor mocked. "You know very well that that weapon will kill me, but it's range is such that it would also kill your other self here. That's the good thing about leaving morals behind-no worry about killing innocents to get what you want."

He put his hand in his pocket and took out his sonic screwdriver. He held it out in front of him at arm's length, so both Rose and anti-Rose, as well as Rose's Doctor, could see it. He put his hand on Rose's shoulder.

"You know what this is, Rose Tyler? Has your Doctor used it yet?"

"Yes." Rose said. "It's a sonic screwdriver." The other Doctor nodded.

"Very useful at low settings for picking locks, jamming radio and sonic frequencies, performing scans, and, of course, undoing screws. At higher settings it can be used to reprogram computers and androids, black out satellites and so forth. At the higher frequencies it can cut through various types of metals and even shatter diamonds. About a third of the frequencies are within human tolerances and most of those are not even uncomfortable. One or two may even be quite pleasurable." He set it and held it against Rose's head and activated it. A wave of terror ran through her but she quickly realised all it was doing was sending vibrations through her flesh that were making her giggle. He withdrew it as Rose noticed the horrified look on the Doctor's face.

"Of course, that leave two thirds of the settings that could be quite unpleasant." He remarked. He reset it once more, pressed it against Rose's chest and activated it. Rose felt breathless, panicky, the vibrations rippling through her body this time made her want to faint or throw up, possibly both and not necessarily in that order, and she heard herself cry out. Mercifully, it stopped.

"That, as I am sure you know, Doctor," he said, mockingly addressing Rose's Doctor "is one of the milder settings. Usually used for resonating inflexible materials. However, there are many subsonic and ultrasonic frequencies that could have a much more devastating effect on human tissues or human sanity, some visible, some not. Some may damage without marks some may leave nothing left, others may scar horrendously." He made another adjustment to his sonic screwdriver. "I've just chosen a setting at random, one I've never tried on a human before. Shall we see what it does to the young lady here, or is your friend there going to stop pointing that weapon at me?" He placed the sonic screwdriver against Rose's throat, and looked at Rose's Doctor and anti-Rose, who was still pointing her gun at him.

"Your move." was all he said.


	6. Chapter 6

Anti-Rose

Chapter Five.

"Put the gun down." Rose's Doctor told anti-Rose. He lifted his hand up to hers, took the gun from her unresisting hands, and threw it to the floor.

"Your TARDIS key and your sonic screwdriver as well. In fact, both of you empty your pockets. I don't trust you." the other Doctor said. Anti-Rose and Rose's Doctor dutifully emptied their pockets. The other Doctor, not taking his eyes off the two in front of him, readjusted his sonic screwdriver and used it to cut through the bindings holding Rose to the chair. Then he swiftly readjusted it, and grabbed Rose around the throat, holding her against him with the sonic screwdriver once more against her head.

"I know this setting would be lethal and she would take her time to die, but die she would if I activate it. Any resistance and she dies. Then I would start on the other Rose Tyler. I don't need any of them for any other purpose they're only useful as hostages." the other Doctor said. "Now, both walk in front of me with your hands up through that door over there."

He took them through several twisty turney tunnels until he reached a small, bare room. He indicated they should enter, thrust Rose in after them, and closed and locked the door. The three of them were alone. The Doctor went over to where Rose lay recovering her breath on the floor.

"Are you alright, Rose. Did he hurt you?" He carefully touched the swelling where the other Doctor had struck her.

"I'll live. What about getting out of here?" she asked.

"Sorry to put a dampener on things, but we have nothing to work with. He took your Doctor's sonic screwdriver and TARDIS key, remember? He made us empty our pockets." anti-Rose said. She stuck out her hand.

'I'm also Rose Tyler, by the way, sorry about earlier, I thought you were with the other him." she said, indicating Rose's Doctor. Rose shook her head.

"Don't worry about it. The thing is, he didn't make me empty my pockets, did he? Any good? Rose asked, taking out her mobile and spare TARDIS key the Doctor had given her.

"Rose Tyler, you're a genius!" the Doctor cried. Rose and Anti-Rose both looked at him. "Uh-never mind." he said, "Two of you will take some getting used to."

Rose and anti-Rose smirked at each other.

"Most TARDISes use the same key for the front door lock as other locks, although a few rooms do have their own locks." he explained. "If this isn't one of them, we can get out."

"Give me the phone! I can call on some help!" Anti-Rose said. She flipped off the back cover and nodded, replacing it. "This'll do nicely. She thought a moment, than dialled a number from memory. After two wrong numbers she obviously got it right, because she told the person on the other end what had transpired, then told Rose and the Doctor that help would be arriving.

"Right, let's see if this key works." He fitted it in the lock and it did indeed work.

"What if he's still around?" anti-Rose sad.

"A risk we'll have to take." the Doctor said. "We'll just have to be careful, that's all. Anyway, he's probably off looking for my TARDIS-not that he'll get very far if he does. She got severely damaged on the trip here and it'll take weeks of repairs to get her moving again." By this time they themselves were on the move, and the Doctor said "And on the subject of repairs, I need a few spares. There are some things in here that don't necessarily need a sonic screwdriver to obtain." He managed to lever off a hatch, and reached in. Ten minutes later, he had three odd-looking objects and they set off again, the Doctor blowing on singed fingers. "No, you don't need a sonic screwdriver to remove them, but one would have helped." he observed.

It took a while, but eventually they reached a door marked 'CONSOLE ROOM'. The Doctor carefully opened the door a crack, and peered in. He then opened the door wide. "The coast is clear." he said. Indeed, the other Doctor did not seem to be in evidence. He hadn't even bothered to take anything except the Doctor's TARDIS key: the Doctor crowed with delight and picked up his sonic screwdriver before sorting the other assorted items back into their respective pockets. "Let's get moving!" he said. He moved out of the other Doctor's TARDIS, walked forward two stops, and stopped. He spread his arms out, hoping to shield the two women.

There in front of him, with a weapon drawn, stood the Master.

The Rani, also armed, was stood next to him.

They both raised their weapons ready to fire.


	7. Chapter 7

Anti-Rose.

Chapter Six.

"No, don't shoot!" cried a voice. It was anti-Rose. "He's not the Doctor you've fought. He's the good one." The Master and the Rani lowered their weapons. The Doctor looked confused. Anti-Rose pushed to the front.

"Doctor from another reality, meet the Rani and the Master from mine." The Doctor raised an eyebrow.

"Pleased to meet you both. I see that not much else has changed except the sides we're on."

'We fight in your universe?" asked the Rani.

"Yes." said the Doctor. "It's nice to be on the same side for once. He'll probably be in my TARDIS. Not that he'll get anywhere-it's broken." He briefly explained how he'd come into this universe. The Master and Rani listened attentively and the Rani said, "Well, at least that'll stop him running off with it."

"I'm still not keen on the idea of him running loose in _my_ TARDIS." said the Doctor. "Let's get to it. The sooner we stop him the better. It's this way-luckily, like my key, my TARDIS locator worked with his TARDIS as well as my own, which is how I found you so quickly." he said to Rose.

They set off, and Rose realised they were just a few blocks away from the block containing her-no, Anti-Rose's-mother's block of flats. It wasn't long until they got to the Doctor's TARDIS. The Doctor unlocked it, but the Master put his hand on the Doctor's arm to stop him going in.

"I think we should go first, as we are armed, in case he attacks." he said, nodding towards the Rani, who pushed the door open and ducked in. Then a few seconds later she said, "I think he's been here, but he's not in the console room." The Doctor followed, and saw evidence of the other Doctor's activity-footprints on the framework of the console stand from where he'd obviously kicked it in frustration, and a couple of open panels, which the Doctor checked. He grinned.

"I do believe my TARDIS doesn't like him. These short-outs have occurred since the original incident, and what's more, they're self-inflicted." He patted the console. "Good girl! She doesn't want him to take off in her any more than I do. She's not particularly violent, but somehow I think he won't find anything easy for him-like navigation." He turned to Rose. "The TARDIS can rearrange her internal structure-rooms, corridors, et cetera-at will, and she can be quite mischievous at times. I would imagine she's got him wandering around in circles even now."

"You make it sound like the TARDIS is alive." Rose said.

"That's because she is, Rose. Part of her is alive, and part of her is sentient. She knows enough to know whether she likes a person, dislikes them, or couldn't care either way, and I would imagine that she dislikes that other Doctor with a passion. I must say, I'm glad she likes me, or travelling could be quite difficult."

"So she has likes and dislikes." Rose said, looking at the console. "Does she-"

"Oh yes, Rose, she likes you. No worries there. But right now, I want that other Doctor out of my TARDIS, even if she is keeping him out of trouble. Guide him back here." He said this last bit to the console room in general.

A few minutes later, the door into the console room opened, and a very angry blonde Doctor stormed out. He stopped, a bit startled by the people gathered in front of him. Then he launched into an angry tirade.

"Your bitch of a TARDIS has led me round aimlessly since I left the console room! How did you get away anyway?"

"Good, and none of your business!" replied Rose's Doctor cheerfully. Now, get out of my TARDIS, and you can give me my key back while you're here. Just throw it onto the floor over here."

"You can go to hell!" stormed the other Doctor.

"Do as he says." said the Rani, pointedly wiggling the gun she was holding. "Or I'll stun you, and he can take his key and throw you out. I assume you would want to walk out under your own steam?"

Snarling, the other Doctor took out Rose's Doctor's TARDIS key and threw it to the floor. He strode across the room towards the door, and everyone scuttled to get out of his way.

Anti-Rose wasn't quite quick enough. As she moved aside, he seized her arm and pulled him against her. He twisted her arm up behind her and fastened his hand around her throat. She gave a strangled gasp as his grip tightened.

"I'll leave, but she's coming with me as insurance. Come after me, and I'll kill her. She can travel with me for a bit. It might be quite interesting to see how I can repay her for interfering in my matters. How many ways can I get my revenge on her without damaging her, and them after that, how many ways can I damage her without killing her? This could be interesting. I could have her begging for the release of death. How long would it take you to try and rescue her, and how many times could I stop you from succeeding?" He pulled her arm up harder behind her back, and anti-Rose gave another strangled-sounding cry. He backed up towards the TARDIS doors, pulling her with him, and was out a moment later. No one had thought to lock the TARDIS door after going in.

Rose, the Doctor, the Master and the Rani looked at each other, not sure what to do. Then came a thud, a pained yell-male, not female-and a cry of "Take that!" Then there was the sound of running footsteps.

"I'd know that voice anywhere!" cried Rose. She shot out of the TARDIS, ignoring the warnings of the three Time Lords, who looked at each other in exasperation, then went after her, the Rani spitting out a ferocious-sounding Gallifreyan expletive as they did so.

Outside, anti-Rose was rubbing her arm and throat alternately, and Jackie Tyler was holding her rolling pin with one hand, and had her other arm round her daughter.

"I was keeping a watch, and thought I'd stand by in case you needed backup." she said. "Good thing I did! I heard him threaten to hurt my daughter, and there is no way I was going to let that happen!" Rose was smiling.

"Do you think he's learned not to get on your wrong side?" she asked.

"People say the most dangerous thing in the world is a wounded animal." the Rani said. "They're wrong. The most dangerous thing is the mother of any wounded or threatened offspring-and the offspring's age doesn't come into it when you deal with most sentient species."

A distant wheezing and groaning was heard a few minutes later.

"Well, that's him gone-till the next time." said Jackie. "How's about we all head up to the flat for a cup of tea?"

"Sounds like as good an idea as any." the Rani said. "Then maybe we can help you get your TARDIS up and going again, and we can put a few equations through your TARDIS's computer and see which ones most likely to get you back to your reality. We'll repair the breach this side, and you do it from yours."

"That means we'll have to visit your mum's." the Doctor told Rose. "Breaches like this tend to occur in the same places in both realities. After that, though, where and when do you fancy going?"

"I'll think about it." Rose said. "But wherever we go, it won't be anywhere near a black hole!"

Laughing, they headed up to the flat.


End file.
